Andrew Commander

Amy Baum: She’s the shit. Get to know her

AC: So Amy how did we meet?
Amy Baum: Through Dana of course. Dana does everything! Even though we may get annoyed at her sometimes, everyday, she is a very helpful and her class with be fun this year.

AC: Besides being Dana’s teachers pet, what do you like to do?
Amy: Well its summer of course, go to the pool, hang with my friend Lisa, hit the beam ya know the usual.

AC: Anything better when school starts up?
Amy: Of course, football games, club mo, everything possible me and my friends try to do it! YEAH

AC: So do you have ADHD?
Amy: I think so

AC: What is your favorite website?
Amy: None other than www.ANDREWCOMMANDER.com of course!!!

AC: Plans for Junior year…
Amy: DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE wow we have cars now!!! Lets try and park in the Senior lot all year and see how fun it will be! CAR CAR CAR

AC: Don’t get too excited, what about PSAT, ACT, SAT..?
Amy: Oh yeah dang.. CAR CAR CAR

Amy and Lisa... who else

We should chill maybe once before school starts.

Tell me about your site

I’ve always had a very simple site,louisanphoto.com thanks to my limited html skills. But the byproduct is that I let my photos speak for itself instead of a fancy website. I try and make my site into an online portfolio, so you can see what kind of photographer I am from just glancing at my website. Cause in the end, people are going to remember you if you have an impressive portfolio.

How did you get involved in photography?

I’ve always loved pressing that shutter button, I don’t know why. I remember insisting to a photo of my parents below Mt. Rainier when I was 6 or so. But I really discovered photography when I took Photo 1 at MHS instead of study hall. Best decision ever. From that on, I was hooked. That was the only photo class I took, everything else was self-taught. It also helped that my friend Parker Rice was also an aspiring photographer. We always shot together throughout high school, and constantly tried to one up one another. We definitely got better through competition.

What is the biggest tip you would give to new photographers?

The best tip I can give to aspiring photographers is to get a manual film single lens reflex camera. When you have a limited physical medium like film, you take your time with a picture. Ansel Adams didn’t blindly go around taking photos. He took his time with every single scene. Film allows you to learn the patience and judge if the scene is worth your time and effort. And there is nothing like working an enlarger and putting the photo paper through the developer, stopper, and fixer. Yes, digital is easy, but it’s too easy.

What is your favorite photo you have taken and why?

Click for larger size

Flatirons at Chautauqua. It was the blizzard of March 2009, where it dumped a foot onto Boulder. I went down to Chautauqua the morning after and it was perfect conditions all around. The sun was shining right onto the mountains, there were the perfect amount of clouds, and the sky was as blue as the ocean. And because it was a panorama, you could zoom in and see icicles on the Flatirons.

Do you ever see yourself become a blogger/photoblogger?

I don’t think I could ever be a blogger/photoblogger, I’d feel like I’d run out of things to write about. But if I was hired to take photos and blog about a certain subject, I’d be all for it. But as self-motivated hobby? I don’t think so.

Who would you like to work with given a chance?

I would love to collaborate with National Geographic. There is no higher honor for a photographer than being published in that yellow magazine. I would love to get paid to essentially travel and take pictures about the world. I would also love to work with a big mountain skier/snowboarder/biker. I love to ski and bike, so naturally I wouldn’t mind taking pictures of it. Photographers who take photos of skiers are either skiing the terrain that the skiers are, or are in a helicopter. Both sound very appealing to me.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

I guess not many people know that I am originally from South Korea. So naturally, I still speak to my parents in Korean. I still think it’s funny to look at people’s faces after I’m on the phone with my parents and nonchalantly switch back to English. To me, that’s as natural as walking.

What is on your iTunes?

I have a pretty broad taste in music, except country. I can’t stand that twang. But it ranges from rock, electronica, classical, and hip hop. Examples of such are Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Incubus, Muse, Bob Marley, Pepper, RJD2, Jurassic 5, The Chemical Brothers, Infected Mushroom. I recommend everyone check out Muse. There’s nothing like good old space rock to get the blood flowing. Knights of Cydonia by Muse makes me feel like I’m a space cowboy. If anyone’s a Pink Floyd fan, The Wall movie is a very good depiction of their album.

What is one thing people can do for you?

The one thing that people can do for me is to spread my photos. Buy a print from me, hang it up on your wall, and spread the word. But there is one thing I would love more, and that’s people to shoot with. So pick up a camera, learn the basics of photography. I would love it if there were more competent photographers in the world, because there’s nothing like competition.

A guest post by Dennis Yu, CEO of BlitzLocal, driving calls for local professional service firms.

People think I’m a snob because I hire maid service– I don’t do my own laundry or wash dishes. Haven’t for years. The maid will even run errands at the mall or supermarket for me. Think of it this way, if your time is worth $100/hour, then 3 hours to do your laundry is $300 of your time you can purchase for only $50. Bargain.

What is your time worth? How much more money could you make if you got another day or two each week? Or maybe if you could work 10-20 hours less each week– what is that time worth to you?

Tim Ferris is the self-proclaimed master of outsourcing, which is why he can claim to have a 4 hour workweek. If you are able to delegate efficiently– meaning that you can lay out work in such clear precision that the workers do the job flawlessly without your intervention, then it may be possible to sit back and watch your “factory” operate– build websites, PPC campaigns, mail letters, spam Craigslist, answer the phones, or whatever it is you might do.

Consider outsourcing to be a multiplier on your time. You might get a 10 times multiplier– a project that takes you one hour to define and manage can result in 10 hours of work being done. Instead of working 40 hours a week, you can work 4 hours and get the same output. And if it’s something that needs to be done at regular intervals, then your multiplier is even greater. You can continue to set projects in motion and layer them on top of each other.

The multiplying effects of setting up such a system require that you understand the the task well enough to do it yourself. If not, the requirements will be vague and incomplete, causing the folks who follow your instruction to fail, as you haven’t accounted for where things can go wrong or how to do things most efficiently. In that case, you’re still multiplying– except now you’re multiplying waste!

What should you NOT outsource?

• Your secret sauce: If this is the core of what you do– your unique value in the marketplace, your special secret– then don’t outsource it. Consider that these wage workers might not be in the United States, where intellectual property laws and labor laws are different. You don’t want folks running off with your ideas.
• Complex tasks that tie into the rest of your operations: Outsourcing is great for simple, repetitive tasks for which you can easily swap out one non-performing laborer for another. But if the work involves building upon an existing system you have or some form of cumulative knowledge, the come-and-go nature of freelancing will cripple your innovation.
• Your relationships: You can’t outsource industry partnerships, any more than you can outsource your wife or best friend. This requires your personal involvement and/or that of your people. With the exception of secretarial work, you must be in charge of your business and manage relationships that matter to you.

Freelancers are perfect for tasks that are process-driven. Call centers, repetitive engineering tasks, and most forms of marketing are great. If you can measure it, that will probably work, too. If you can define a clear process– writing a TIGHT requirements document– and have a clear way to measure progress (a way to easily verify whether something was done well), outsource it.

I’ve found rentacoder.com and elance.com to be one of the most awesome things that I’ve found– you get folks bidding on your projects, working for ultra cheap and great quality. They don’t argue, either. As long as you can spot the bullshit artists, you get a great deal. And when the project is over, you don’t have to keep paying them. Some we’ve even hired full-time, but when outside the system, sometimes things break down.

If your outsourcing isn’t going well, it’s your fault for having either written poorly defined requirements or chosen the wrong company. The products that come off the conveyor belt are only as good as the guy who designed the factory and the quality of the workers. Minimize your risk by avoiding these classic mistakes:

• Working with folks who are aren’t directly doing the work– Agencies or other middlemen are just outsourcing on top of your outsourcing, who may yet outsource to someone else. Whoever is doing the work at the end of this chain, by the time they get the message, likely has no clue what you want.
• Choosing freelancers that have less than awesome ratings or have negative feedback– If they had problems with earlier clients, no matter how well they explain why, they’ll likely be saying the same things about you, too.
• Working with folks not in the US-- It’s not about being racist, but understanding the practical realities of speaking good English and improving your odds of finding a great resource. I’m not saying you won’t find gems in India and Serbia– just that it’s harder. The apparent lower price has serious downsides.
• Paying on a retainer– We have blown tens of thousands of dollars each month on shops we’ve hired to do design or even PPC. What happens is that initially they do a great job, but after a couple months, they get lazy, feel entitled, and start doing less work and of lower quality. They may even ask for more money– as they feel they’ve “got you”.

Thus, pay per project and always bid it out– there are hungry people out there who will compete to do great work. Don’t you just love capitalism?

So consider what your time is worth and maybe you’ll find maid service to be a business advantage versus a luxury. Steve Forbes (yes, that Forbes– the guy who owns Forbes Magazine) has a private jet and he names it the “Capitalist Tool” It’s not about living luxuriously, so much as saving him time to get to places. Imagine dealing with airport crowds and having to connect to get to where you want to go. If your time is worth $10k an hour, then a $20k flight to save 4 hours is a pretty good deal.

Now consider what your time is worth and learn to live like a lazy marketer– outsourcing things you don’t want to do or don’t like to do.